Nuclear Skills
A new National College for Nuclear (NCfN) will train future workers and develop world class skills in the UK’s thriving nuclear industry. The college, a partnership between UK Government and nuclear employers, led by the French-state-owned generator EDF and Sellafield Ltd, will be based at two hubs in Somerset and West Cumbria, close to major sites of nuclear investment.
Scottish Energy News 23rd March 2015 read more »
Europe
EU leaders have approved plans to create a bloc-wide Energy Union, but green groups have criticised the Union’s early focus for ‘keeping the continent dependent on fossil fuels’. The Energy Union was approved on Thursday night in Brussels, with the European Council identifying independence from Russian gas as the immediate priority.
Edie 20th March 2015 read more »
Scotland
SCOTLAND is becoming increasingly reliant on importing energy from England to keep the lights on, new National Grid figures have shown. The data shows that while the country still exports more energy than it imports, power is flowing north over the border more regularly, on one in every five days compared to one in six last year. The statistics add to concern over the closure of Longannet coal power station in Fife, which is expected to remain open until 2020 at the latest and could shut within a year. Data shows that on Boxing Day, wind power accounted for just one per cent of output in Scotland, leaving Longannet to make up the shortfall. On other days, wind accounted for as much as 40 per cent. Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Tom Greatrex, Labour’s shadow energy minister, blamed Scottish ministers for what he described as an increasing imbalance in energy generation mix north of the border, meaning the country was more reliant on importing energy during spikes in demand or when the wind was not blowing.
Herald 23rd March 2015 read more »
Japan
The health ministry plans to shorten the list of food being tested for cesium fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster as the number of tainted items is falling. Based on test results so far, the ministry will exclude 20 items including broccoli, plums and tea, starting in April. That will reduce the number of test items to 45, a list released Friday showed. But beef and milk will continue to be tested, given that the degree of cesium contamination in those foods depends heavily on how cattle were raised and what they were fed.
Japan Times 21st March 2015 read more »
South Africa
PELINDABA, South Africa — To gain access to South Africa’s main nuclear research center here, where nearly a quarter-ton of nuclear explosives are stored, approved visitors are supposed to be checked by fingerprint scanners at the three main entrances, installed as part of an American-financed security upgrade. Unless, of course, the scanners are not working, in which case the guard may just wave a visitor through a vehicle entrance several steps away — as happened with a reporter, twice, during visits a few days apart to this remote, scrubland site last year. Pelindaba, situated west of the capital of Pretoria, is considered a “national key point” by the South African government, a highly-sensitive facility that is a potential target for sabotage. It was once the center of South Africa’s clandestine nuclear weapons program, which built six bombs and left behind a reservoir of weapons-usable fuel. Whether that stockpile — enough highly-enriched uranium (HEU) for more bombs like the one that devastated Hiroshima — is adequately guarded from theft has been a recurrent source of friction between Washington and Pretoria, according to officials in both capitals. A break-in at Pelindaba by two armed groups more than seven years ago convinced senior US officials and some independent security experts that the vault holding the fuel lacks adequate counter-terror protections. As a result, Washington has been waging a quiet, but unsuccessful, diplomatic campaign to convince South Africa to relinquish the vault’s HEU.
Global Post 22nd March 2015 read more »
Germany
A new German government report is stoking fears that the country’s energy companies can’t shoulder the cost of a government plan to close the country’s nuclear-power plants. Germany aims to phase out its nine remaining reactors by 2022, faster than almost any country. But nobody knows exactly how much it costs to shut and clean up atomic-power plants and all the facilities used over decades to store radioactive waste. Building a depository for the waste deep underground and delivering the waste add additional unknown costs. Berlin promises utilities will foot the bill, but the new report, released Friday, raises the prospect of German taxpayers ending up on the hook.
Wall St Journal 22nd March 2015 read more »
North Korea
In an interview with Sky News on Friday, Hyun Hak Bong, the North Korean ambassador to Britain, said that while his country does not want war, “if the United States strike us, we should strike back.” “We do not want war, but we are not afraid of war. We are ready for nuclear war with nuclear war,” Hyun said as reported by Al Jazeera English. “It is not the United States that has a monopoly on nuclear weapon strikes.”
The Week 21st March 2015 read more »
Iran
Top Israeli envoys were sent to confer with French officials on Sunday about preventing what Israel considers an unfavourable nuclear deal with Iran after tensions surfaced between France and the United States over negotiation strategy.
Reuters 22nd March 2015 read more »
Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhan make an unlikely double act. But as negotiators from the US and Iran race towards the 31 March finishing line for a nuclear deal, this odd couple’s destinies have become inextricably linked.
Guardian 22nd March 2015 read more »
Kerry: substantial progress made towards a deal with Iran.
Guardian 22nd March 2015 read more »
Costa Rica
Costa Rica has achieved a clean energy milestone by using 100 per cent renewable energy for a record 75 days in a row. The feat was achieved thanks to heavy rainfall, which powered four hydroelectric plants in the first three months of the year, the state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute said. No fossil fuels have been burnt to generate electricity since December 2014, in the state which is renowned for its clean energy policies. While Costa Rica is a small country, with a popular of about 4.8 million people, it has made great strides in its use of renewable energy.
Independent 22nd March 2015 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
RUSSIA has warned Denmark of a nuclear strike on its warships if the Scandinavian country joins Nato’s missile defence shield. The Russian ambassador to Denmark Mikhail Vanin issued the dramatic threat in an opinion piece published in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
City AM 23rd March 2015 read more »
Independent 22nd March 2015 read more »
Renewables – solar
Cambridge-based Solar Cloth Company makes lightweight, flexible solar panels which can be rolled and fitted onto curved and flexible structures such as domes or coverings for agricultural land, as well as on the roofs of buildings unable to sustain the weight of glass panels.The company uses thin film photovoltaics (TFPV), which are viewed as the second generation of solar technology. TFPV is light enough to be placed on plastics and weighs substantially less than conventional glass panels. The rolls of TFPV can be fitted on top of a building over a few days, allowing for millions of square metres of space on structures to be converted to solar, said Carroll. In the UK, factories account for 13% of the UK’s energy consumption and most of them are potential sites for solar rolls, he said. The company also intends to concentrate on fitting the panels on awnings in car parks, where the energy can then be fed directly into an electric car parked underneath.
Guardian 22nd March 2015 read more »
Climate
Malaria, dengue fever and other deadly exotic diseases could become an established part of British life in a matter of decades, public health experts have warned. The emergence of the illnesses is likely to be driven by climate change, which will make it easier for mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects which transmit the diseases to become widespread in the UK.
Independent 23rd March 2015 read more »
